1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, such as a DVI (Digital Visual Interface) connector and in particular to a completely shielded electrical connector.
2. The Related Arts
Electrical connectors are widely used to connect separate electrical devices. Electrical signals are transmitted between the electrical devices via the electrical connectors. In high frequency applications, EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference) is one of the major causes for noise. Suppression of EMI has been widely studied. Inventions addressing the EMI issue are widely known, such as Taiwan Patent Application Nos. 84207642 and 86212787 disclosing electrical connectors comprising an insulative housing retaining a number of conductive pins therein. The conductive pins has front and rear sections extending beyond front and rear faces of the housing. A shielding member is attached to the housing for surrounding and shielding the front sections of the pins. However, the rear sections of the pins are not covered and shielded. Disadvantages are that (1) the rear sections of the pins may be damaged by being hit or impacted by foreign objects, such as user""s fingers, (2) short-circuiting may happen when the foreign objects are conductive, (3) debris and dusts may get into the connector via spacing between the uncovered pins, and (4) the uncovered rear sections of the pins are readily subject to undesired electromagnetic interference, resulting in poor transmission of signals.
Taiwan Patent Publication No. 82111200 discloses an electrical connector which comprises, besides the shielding member, a secondary rear shielding cover which is attached to the rear side of the housing for covering and shielding the rear sections of the pins. However, the rear shielding cove has a complicated structure and may not be securely attached to the connector.
It is thus desirable to provide a completely shielded electrical connector to alleviate the above-discussed problems.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having a rear cover for completely shielding conductive contacts of the connector.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having a cover for preventing entry of debris and dusts into the connector.
A further object of the present invention is to provided an electrical connector having contacts fully covered and protected from impact and physical contact by foreign objects.
To achieve the above objects, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided an electrical connector comprising an insulative housing having front and rear faces and top and bottom faces connecting the front and rear faces. A projection is formed on the front face of the housing with a plurality of passageways defined therein and exposed to the rear face. Conductive contacts are received and retained in the passageways, partly extending beyond the rear face of the housing. A front shielding member comprises a base plate attached to the front face of the housing and a shroud wall formed on the base section and defining an opening fit over the projection and shielding the contacts. The shielding member comprises a top flange partly overlapping the top face of the housing and covering recesses defined in the top face of the housing. The recesses are exposed to the rear face thereby forming channels between the housing and the top flange. A rear conductive cover is attached to the rear face of the housing for covering and shielding the portions of the contacts that extend beyond the rear face of the housing. The rear cover forms a plurality of lugs having U-shaped free ends forcibly fit into and resiliently engaging the top flange thereby fixing the rear cover in position and establishing electrical connection therebetween. The rear cover has opposite side panels fit into slits defined in the rear face of the housing for helping fixing the rear cover.